Chapter 0004-2 – Strange Monkey Group
Translated by: Ken
Edited by: Ulamog, Dedition
After another long while, Ling Yuzhi ascertained that Little Smarty was truly alright, before he nodded his head at Hai Long: “It’s done.”
Hai Long then released his hands, and quickly hugged Little Smarty, itself almost jumping up excitedly: “You little rascal, you really scared me there, now you don’t have to die, it’s great, thank G.o.d!!”
Little Smarty blinked its eyes, and used its little claws to pat Hai Long’s head.
Hai Long wiped away the tears and said: “Quickly go back, tomorrow find me at the orchard to play again.”
Little Smarty seemed to understand and nodded its head, before hopping out of Hai Long’s embrace. It took a look at Ling Yuzi and back at Hai Long, before bouncing away. Just as it was about to disappear into the distance, it turned around once again and casted a deep long look at Hai Long. Hai Long waved at it, and only then did Little Smarty resume its journey back.
After blowing out a long breath, Hai Long slumped onto his backside, and patted his own chest, and only then did he realise that his entire clothing was soaked with perspiration.
Ling Yuzi sat down beside him, and smiled gently: “Hai Long, I didn’t expect you to be so soft-hearted. You can rest easy now.”
Hai Long nodded, and replied with grat.i.tude: “It was thanks to you 11th Junior-Master.”
Having saved a life, Ling Yuzi was feeling quite happy, and responded: “Anyway, it’s all good now, let me teach you the application of the inner qi .”
Hai Long had a lack of interest towards cultivation by now, and replied reluctantly: “Alright, I’ll learn this then.”
Ling Yuzi chuckled bitterly: “I think that under the heavens, there’s only you who would talk back to his Master like that. The incantations are a form of power, and rely on the spiritual energy we absorb from our surroundings. The Skyheart Technique is a form of absorbing the spiritual energy, and when you’re cultivating everyday, it’s the process of absorption. And the way to utilize this inner qi is actually very simple, which is to apply them through your thoughts.”
Hai Long replied with doubt: “Thoughts?”
Ling Yuzi became stern, and nodded his head solemnly: “Yes, thought. Thought is the simplest way of controlling your inner qi. When you’re climbing a mountain, you can use just your thought to channel your inner qi to your feet, and it will become easier. When you’re chopping firewood, you can channel the inner qi to your hands, so on and so forth, understand?”
Hai Long nodded, and replied seriously: “So if I want to s.h.i.t, and I channel my inner qi to my b.u.t.tocks, won’t it become a lot more smooth?”
On the other side of the courtyard, Ling Tongzi was preparing to enter his afternoon cultivation, when he heard Hai Long screaming out in pain, and felt shocked. He could not help but listen closely.
“Ah! 11th Junior-Master, why did you hit me so hard, it hurts!! My head feels like exploding!!”
“You! Our Cloudstroke Plain’s face will be thrown away by you!!”
“I, I was just asking a question!! Is it wrong for inner qi to be used on our b.u.t.tocks?!”
Hearing this, Ling Tongzi almost fell out of his bed. He finally understood why Hai Long was spanked. He shook his head helplessly, before clearing his head of all useless thoughts, closing off his senses, and continuing his cultivation.
Early the next morning, Hai Long woke up from cultivating the Skyheart Technique. His cultivation the previous night was vastly different from the past. With Ling Yuzi’s explanation, he felt that the spiritual qi that he absorbed from the surroundings had increased a lot, and the warm flow of energy within him seemed to thicken.
After stretching himself, Hai Long walked out from the room, and knew that most of his Uncle-Masters would cultivate all the way till noon before waking up. Since there was nothing much to do, he decided to head to the orchard to look for Little Smarty. He wanted to see if Little Smarty was recovering nicely as he hoped for there to be no residual side effects from the wound. With his thoughts up to here, Hai Long quickly made a beeline for the orchard.
As he walked, he remembered what Ling Yuzi taught him yesterday, and focused his inner qi to his feet, and a strange yet miraculous feeling came over his feet. He felt as though he had started flying, his body feeling weightless, and with every single step he took, it seemed as though he could easily leap a distance of 2-3 metres. Feeling excited, he pushed down hard, and wanted to see to what extent he could reach. However, things didn’t go as planned, and the moment he used force, he broke the concentration of using the Skyheart Technique, and not only did he increase his speed, adversely, he felt heavier. As he was unused to the sudden change, his feet buckled and he fell face first.
Hai Long became frightened and quickly tried to adjust his body, his brain working at top speed to find out his mistake. After isolating the cause, he took a deep breath, and once again, made use of his thoughts and focused on his legs, relaxing himself in body and mind, and naturally stepped forth again. The light feeling came back, and this time, he actually made a 5m leap effortlessly. In order to maintain the sensation, Hai Long suppressed the excitement within him, and calmed himself down.
True enough, his conjecture was on the mark, and his body floated about weightlessly. Even the slightest push from the ground sent him speeding past the environment, and within a few moments, he had already arrived at the orchard. His speed was truly fast, reaching here in half the time he usually took.
“Chichi, chichi.” The familiar chattering resounded, and turning his body, Hai Long came to a large tree. However, today was different, there were no peaches being thrown over. Hai Long had discovered, his hand had shot to his pouch out of habit, but today, the bag was empty.
“Chichi, chichi.” A grey shadow came bolting in front of Hai Long, its red eyes darting about as it looked towards him.
Hai Long bent down and chuckled: “Little Smarty, why didn’t you use peaches to hit me today. Are your injuries ok?” As he said, he grabbed Little Smarty and checked for wounds. The Purple Lingzhi was truly amazing, to the point where there was no sign of scarring, even its grey fur had grown out.
Little Smarty blinked its eyes, at first shaking its head, then nodding its head, causing Hai Long to be confused. With a swoosh, Little Smarty had leapt onto his shoulders, and then did a somersault in the air before beckoning with its little hands and scampering away.
“What? Are you bringing me to eat some fruits? Sure! Anyway, I have nothing going on, if there’s something good, I’ll bring some back for my Masters. Those fellows are so lazy, so still need me to wait on them.” As he spoke, Hai Long lightly leapt forwards, and landed beside Little Smarty.
Little Smarty was shocked by Hai Long’s sudden burst in speed, and looked at Hai Long incredulously, blinking its little eyes. Hai Long smirked: “How is it? I’m amazing, aren’t I? This is a skill that I learnt. If we were to continue our fights, I’ll definitely win and be able to spank you so many times.”
Little Smarty’s mouth twitched, and made a face at Hai Long, before turning around and leaping into the depths of the orchard speedily.
Although he had made use of his inner qi to raise his speed, Hai Long could not compare to Little Smarty who had the advantage in this terrain. Regardless of how much Hai Long pushed, he could not even match Little Smarty’s shadow. Little Smarty itself was strange as well, it would run, and then pause and wait for Hai Long, and the moment Hai Long got close, it would restart its advance. After goodness knows how long, they had already went past the orchard, and entered a small forest behind the Cloudstroke Plains.
“Hey, Little Smarty, where are you bringing me! I can’t do this anymore! It’s like a maze here, I can’t remember the way back, how do I go back!”
Little Smarty was currently running happily, without a sign of exhaustion, hearing Hai Long’s words, it paused, and pointed in front, then point to itself, as it chittered nonstop.
Hai Long sighed helplessly: “Alright, alright, I’ll just follow this gentleman here, but, let me say this first, if you’re not taking me to good things to eat, you had better carry me back.”
Little Smarty made an enraged gesture at Hai Long, before turning and continuing forwards.
After another slopes, just when Hai Long was really about to faint from exhaustion, he heard a weird noise. It was like Little Smarty’s chittering, except that it was on a larger noise level, as though there many sources of the chittering, and it seemed to be crowded. Hai Long immediately understood, and panted as he chuckled: “Haha, Little Smarty, truly capable eh, bringing me to your little monkey nest.”
Hearing its fellow monkeys, Little Smarty became excited, as it somersaulted a few times, and chittered loudly.
After they pa.s.sed a number of densely grown trees, Hai Long came to a world of monkeys. As he looked over, it was as though the entire place was covered with them. Regardless of on top the trees, or on the ground, there were all sorts of strange monkeys jumping about, chasing each other, playfighting, and the most interesting was that there were even smaller sized monkeys helping to pick lice off the bigger monkeys. In this world without any conflicts, all the monkeys were engaged in play and leisure.
In the centre of this strange place, there was a huge stone, its height over a few dozen metres, and it was about 100m in diameter. There was a huge clear spring in front of the rock, and the clean flowing water were all gathered near the rock. Even though there was still some distance between the lake and Hai Long, he could feel the icy chill from the water. He thought quietly that this must be the source of life for the monkeys, that was why they were gathered here.
The moment they felt a stranger within their midst, the little monkeys became wary, some even became agitated and came close to Hai Long. There were some the size of humans and they bared their teeth, intending to put on a threatening front, obviously not welcoming Hai Long. The rest of the monkeys also stared at him with animosity. Upon seeing this, Hai Long could not help but feel shaken within, after all, there were so many monkeys, even a single huge one was more than he could handle. As his thoughts came to here, he started to regret following Little Smarty.
Right at this moment, Little Smarty jumped up from the ground, landing on Hai Long’s shoulders. One of its monkey claws was placed on Hai Long’s head supporting itself, the other waving about energetically, as it chattered agitatedly.